The Palestra

The Palestra is the great ancient Cathedral of Basketball in America – the last surviving reminder of a golden era, a place where true sports fans can still enjoy college athletic competition the way it oughta be.

If you prefer luxury boxes, high-tech scoreboards and getting bombarded with non-stop marketing from the moment you pass the turnstile, please proceed to the Wachovia Center (and don’t forget to read the mini ad billboards just above the men’s urinals). But if it’s a night of clean fun, cheering crowds and top-quality college hoop you want, head down to the Penn campus and visit the Palestra, where every game is exciting, and every game between two teams from the “Big 5” – La Salle, Penn, St. Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova – is absolutely electric, with a packed-to-the-rafters, high-decibel experience guaranteed.

Opened in 1927 and named after the public wrestling and athletic training venues of ancient Greece, the Palestra (not “Wachovia Palestra” or “Citizens Bank Palestra” – just “Palestra”, thank you very much) is a nightmare for visiting teams, with bleachers that extend right to the edge of the basketball court on all four sides, plus high brick walls and a hard ceiling that cause crowd noise to reverberate to a deafening level.

Once America’s largest basketball venue, the Palestra has hosted more NCAA teams, games and tournaments than any other arena anywhere, and was also the site of many 76ers games in their early days. The list of Big 5 legends who have played or coached at the Palestra is endless, and includes such names as Paul Arizin, Tom Gola, Matt Guokas, Wali Jones and Jack Ramsay.

The fans don’t shower the court with rolls of toilet paper anymore, because the killjoy NCAA made it a technical foul on the home team. But if the ref misses a call in a Big 5 game, you can bet that:

1. One school’s fans will howl in protest;
2. The other school’s fans will chant “STOP your WHIN-ing! STOP your WHIN-ing!”; and
3. The first school’s fans chant back “STOP your CHEAT-ing! STOP your CHEAT-ing!”

Good-natured taunting is all part of the Palestra experience. Drunken, foul-mouthed brawling is not. You might see that type of stuff in a stadium – but you won’t see it in a Cathedral.